New to welding

[minimike998]

Currently learning to weld and have been practicing welding in straight lines. I used he method described in the tutorial for thin metal and have now got to a stage where i can get fairly good consistent welds.

However i have now moved onto welding one piece of thin metal to another and am not doing so well. They will both be thin pieces of metal as it is welding in a floor pan. I am just unsure of the technique to use. Should i weld right at the edge of one piece or weld slightly in from the edge and try to penetrate both pieces of metal with one slightly overlapping the other. Or should i try and cut the floor pan so that it is an exact fit and just weld along the small inevitable gap

Thanks
Mike

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

there's always a debate about this...

I prefer a slight overlap with the new piece being around 1/4" (6mm) bigger all around, then I try to melt the top sheet into the lower sheet.

Lots of people will tell you that this leaves an unprotected overlap that'll retain water and rust away, but I find that I can lather it with seam sealer and underseal and it's good for a few years.

Depending on where the rust is in the floor I'll try to leave an inch of the old floor at the sides. There was a time when I had a much bigger overlap and welded top and bottom, ie, two runs, but I gave that up some years ago.

Regards
Peter